Forward Observer — Pension Scams Are Continuing

Interested in Aid and Attendance because you face or are in a nursing or personal care home in Pennsylvania?  Beware, financial advisement predators may not be far behind, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appears to regulate them poorly — or this subject would not be continually coming up.

The post card below sent out by the Office of General Council of the Department of Veterans Affairs in reaction to recent events is worth reading by those seniors or their families contemplating seeking Medicaid and a VA Disability Pension for their loved one (Aid and Attendance is a supplement to it).  These two actions are often interwined and one agency checks against the other.

Remember, the work to secure you a VA pension should not be charged and be wary if financial manipulation of your other assets is brought up to get that benefit.  Our advice?  Talk with an accredited Veterans Service Officer or Claims Agent first.  Have them show you their card from the VA before you start the conversation.  They don’t have a card?  Don’t talk to them.  Already in a long-term care facility?  Ask a licensed social worker at the nursing/personal care home to assist, to include seeing that accredited service officer/agent.

These estate and pension poaching scams have gone on far too long, but with the increasing age of our state’s population, they are likely to increase.

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RJH
23 December 2013